Middle Schools in Florence 01

The Florence 01 school district in Florence, South Carolina, operates four middle schools serving grades 6-8 with a combined enrollment of 3,620 students, and the district itself ranks in the top 40% of South Carolina districts. For parents, the standout choice is John W. Moore Middle, which is the only school in the district to earn a 4-star rating in recent years and holds the highest state ranking (136th of 335 schools, 59th percentile). It consistently outperforms both district and state averages across nearly all subjects, and it also has the lowest chronic absenteeism rate (22.3%, matching the state average). Southside Middle is a solid second choice, showing particular strength in 8th grade English Language Arts (54.6% proficient) and 8th grade math (42.7% proficient), both exceeding district and state averages, while also demonstrating the strongest year-over-year improvement trend. The other two schools, Williams Middle and Henry L. Sneed Middle, both rank in the lower third of the state (31st and 34th percentiles respectively) and have consistent 2-star ratings.

One of the most striking findings is the district's exceptional performance on the Algebra 1 End-of-Course exam, where three schools achieved 100% proficiency and Henry L. Sneed Middle reached 94.87%, far exceeding the state average of 73.95%. This suggests a strong advanced math pathway, though it may also indicate that only the highest-achieving students are placed into Algebra 1 in middle school, which could explain why general math proficiency scores are much lower. Another notable pattern is the clear link between attendance and performance: the three schools with chronic absenteeism rates above 28% all rank in the bottom half of the state, while John W. Moore Middle, with the lowest absenteeism, is the top performer. This suggests that attendance interventions could be a high-impact strategy for improvement.

Interestingly, spending and class size do not correlate with outcomes. Henry L. Sneed Middle spends the most per student ($14,430) yet ranks second-lowest, while Southside Middle spends the least ($12,200) but outperforms both Williams and Sneed. Similarly, Williams Middle has the most favorable student-teacher ratio (11.6) but the lowest academic performance, while John W. Moore Middle has the least favorable ratio (14.4) but the highest performance. Across all schools, 8th grade math shows the most significant improvement over 7th grade, and science proficiency in 6th grade lags behind ELA, though John W. Moore and Southside both exceed the district average in science. The gap between the top and bottom schools in this district is substantial, indicating potential inequities in resources or demographics across attendance zones.